vm, a, 2 Reibling: Portland Cement 117 



How, then, can manufacturers be induced to compete on a basis 

 which demands the best product at a reasonably profitable price? 



The most noteworthy attempt to solve this problem was in- 

 stituted by the New York Rapid Transit Company when it 

 contracted for cement manufactured according to certain stip- 

 ulations. An expert was stationed at the mill at all times to 

 inspect the process of manufacture, to reject any inferior mate- 

 rial, to insist upon proper burning, grinding, and seasoning, and 

 to test the cement before it was shipped. 3 Such an inspection 

 at the place of manufacture can be conducted to the advantage 

 of the manufacturer and the consumer, but it is only practicable 

 when the contract involved calls for the purchase of a very 

 large quantity of material. Many cement manufacturers are 

 willing to cooperate with such a plan provided the inspector 

 is a person of good judgment and experience. On the other 

 hand, the purchaser would need to have extreme confidence in 

 the inspector's honesty and ability. The difficulty of finding 

 cement experts who would be acceptable to both parties is suffi- 

 cient to prevent the general application of this system. 



A practicable method would be to buy cement which will pass 

 the minimum requirements of a standard specification as hereto- 

 fore, and in addition offer for superior quality a bonus which 

 will be a benefit to both manufacturer and consumer and induce 

 nothing but the best manufacturing practices. Such a bonus 

 system would promote a greater and a more desirable competition 

 than the present system, because the manufacturers could furnish 

 their best products at a lower price than heretofore and enter 

 into fair competition with inferior cements from which little or 

 no additional revenue could be expected. 



None of the numerous attempts to establish such a system 

 have proved satisfactory. Years ago it was the common practice 

 to offer a bonus for cements which would give exceedingly high 

 7-day tests, but this practice was abandoned as soon as it became 

 generally known that the quick-hardening, rotary cements usually 

 develop such an abnormal decrease in strength that the slower 



3 Cement Age (1905), 1, 75. 



In this instance the manufacturer complied with the suggestions offered 

 by the chief inspector, and tests carried on for five years showed a remark- 

 able regularity in the accepted product. There also was a continued im- 

 provement in the quality of the cement which corroborated the original as- 

 sumption that "an early stage, low pulling cement, which undoubtedly will 

 show best results in the long run can be made in rotary kilns notwithstand- 

 ing the general tendency of such commercial products to show abnormally 

 high early results with a consequent retrograde movement later on." 



